Will Competition Affect BCVI’s Bottom Line?

Keith Slater

The installation of Courts Optical has been in the works for some time. For the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, BCVI, Courts Belize’s debut into the business of optometry threatens the non-profit organization’s existing market. As it is, the income derived from BCVI’s services account for roughly fifty percent of its annual revenue. The concern is that the competition’s popular payment plan will adversely affect BCVI’s bottom line, jeopardizing its various projects. Managing Director of Unicomer (Belize) Limited, Keith Slater, says he does not think so.

Keith Slater, Managing Director, Unicomer (Belize) Limited

“The answer is categorically no. The type of business that we are in does not typically attract the type of customers that they cater for. Anybody that comes to us and applies for credit must first of all be employed and have an income that qualifies them for credit. I believe they are more of a quasi-charitable organization and do a grand job and these are not the customers that we are targeting at all. So I don’t see the cross over and at the end of the day, the customer will make the decision where they go. If we don’t do a good job, they won’t come to us as they have or haven’t in the past.”

The payment plans for first time customers will be a twenty-five percent deposit over a maximum of twenty-four months.

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